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Xinlu Liang

Over the past month, one of the biggest hit streaming shows globally has been a fictional drama about a young man who plots revenge after his family is murdered.
The made-in-China historical fantasy is the latest major production to showcase the growing international influence of one of the country’s fastest growing cultural exports – storytelling.
In the week after its May 18 debut, Legend of Zang Hai topped multiple overseas rankings in 15 regions, including the No 1 spot on Disney+ in Taiwan for seven days, while becoming the only mainland Chinese production in the local top 10 in Hong Kong.
The 40-episode series also trended globally at No 12 on social media platform X, hitting No 1 in Thailand and charting in the top 10 in Vietnam and Malaysia. It has even trended in Ukraine.
It rates 8.8 out of 10 on the online entertainment database IMDb, making it the highest-rated Chinese suspense drama on the platform, attracting praise for its intricate plot, stunning visuals, and exceptional acting, as well as its use of Chinese intangible heritage like shadow puppetry and Kunqu opera.
The story follows protagonist Zang Hai, who, after his family is massacred, seeks revenge through years of meticulous planning and strategic cunning to infiltrate the enemy’s ranks. As he gains power amid political intrigue, he shifts his focus from personal vengeance to protecting his people.

“For fans of epic historical dramas with soul, this is a must-watch. And for those unfamiliar with Chinese television, Legend of Zang Hai is the perfect gateway – a show that proves great storytelling transcends language and borders,” one viewer wrote on IMDb.
It is not the only Chinese TV drama to find acclaim overseas. The expanding popularity of Chinese TV dramas – known as C-dramas – has become a potent indicator of China’s improving soft power, according to observers.
Driven by increasing production quality, industry advancement and the global reach of Chinese celebrities, such dramas have fused Chinese history, culture, language and values into a formidable entertainment export.
According to analysts, the growing recognition of Chinese dramas has been propelled by a mix of stories rooted in rich cultural heritage, high production values and expanding international distribution, helping them to serve as both cultural ambassadors and agents of China’s evolving soft power.
“Today’s C-dramas are faster-paced, more diverse in genre, visually richer and tailored to younger, global audiences,” said Peter T.C. Chang, former deputy director at the University of Malaya’s Institute of China Studies.
“These shifts not only enhance entertainment value but also reflect a strategic evolution in Chinese media, positioning C-dramas as dynamic cultural carriers.
“By blending traditional values with modern storytelling, they contribute to a more nuanced, relatable and positive global image of China.”
But despite their popularity, challenges such as translation barriers and geopolitical tensions still limit broader international reach, and some critics caution that these dramas may not necessarily translate into a positive view of China overall.
Over the past decade, China has become a global entertainment powerhouse, offering a range of TV products.
In 2015, Netflix acquired the overseas rights to Empresses in the Palace (2011), making it the first Chinese drama to land on a North American paid streaming platform. That year, China exported 381 dramas worth 377 million yuan (US$52.5 million) – surpassing imports for the first time in a decade.

Other Chinese dramas were soon appearing in international markets. Eternal Love made the Cannes TV festival’s list of the top 50 most popular shows in 2017, and Story of Yanxi Palace topped Google’s 2018 global most-searched TV programme list.
It was sold to more than 90 countries and credited with boosting tourism at Beijing’s Forbidden City. The urban drama Nothing But Thirty (2020) became Malaysia’s most-watched Chinese drama and was adapted in South Korea and Vietnam.
According to the China Drama Report 2024 released in December by the National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA), from 2012 to 2023, the export value of C-dramas tripled from US$24 million to over US$70 million, underscoring their growing international influence.
China’s reality-themed dramas were the most popular overseas, accounting for 49 per cent of the 335 dramas exported in 2023, the NRTA said. Chinese costume dramas have generated significant revenue, according to the administration, with viewers in India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and the United States among the biggest fans.
Another 2024 Chinese academic paper said the biggest overseas viewers of Chinese dramas were students, expatriates and those with a keen interest in Chinese culture. Genres like mystery, fantasy comedy, science fiction, reality-based dramas and historical fantasy dramas were their favourites.
“Popular genres like historical epics, xianxia fantasy and modern urban romance emphasise emotional storytelling and universal moral dilemmas, making C-dramas effective cultural carriers that blend tradition with contemporary appeal,” Chang said.

Compared to films and video games, TV series have more potential to “reach out to different subsets of audiences with diverse tastes or backgrounds”, said Sheng Zou, an interdisciplinary media researcher at Hong Kong’s Baptist University.
Production quality is a key driver of popularity, according to industry insiders.
Wang Qiao, a vice-president at Beijing-based production company New Classics Media, said he had seen a shift from scepticism to eagerness towards Chinese dramas on overseas platforms in recent years.
Qiao, who has spent 20 years promoting China’s TV and film industry, said the overseas success was due to years of painstaking effort to strengthen the sectors. “The products we offer, from technical specifications and screen quality to compliance with overseas laws, are fully on par with those of foreign companies,” he told the China-based Economic Observer in December.
Big-budget productions of more than 100 million yuan (US$14 million) are not unusual in China. The Longest Day in Changan (2019) and Legend of Fei (2020) each reportedly cost 600 million yuan to make.
The total production cost of Legend of Zang Hai is reportedly 480 million yuan, with each episode costing about 12 million yuan.
The series had “high production values” compared to previous productions in the genre, said Emilie Yueh-yu Yeh, chair professor at the department of digital arts and creative industries at Lingnan University.
“It’s more cinematic, more rounded characters and plenty of intrigue. Scriptwriting seems sophisticated,” she said. “Soft power does not set out to achieve glory and honour, but receives it through convincing characters and storytelling.”
As their global footprint expands, however, the impact of C-dramas has so far been mostly limited to Asia, especially Southeast Asia, where shared cultural values, language familiarity and regional history are most pronounced, according to analysts.
“Viewers resonate with Confucian ideals, family-oriented narratives, and themes rooted in mythology and imperial history,” said Chang, who is also a research associate at the Malaysia-China Friendship Association in Kuala Lumpur.




In 2023, total income from C-drama exports to Asia – excluding Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan – accounted for 69 per cent of their global total, 61 per cent of which came from Southeast Asia. Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan also made up a large share, the NRTA report said.
In Taiwan, amid cross-strait tensions, Empresses in the Palace has been a cultural phenomenon since 2012, with repeated broadcasts igniting online fan communities. In 2022, a marathon broadcast of the 76-episode drama during the Lunar New Year drew more than 10,000 viewers; by 2024, another marathon airing had pushed that figure to 61,000.
On June 11, excitement on the island around the latest episode of Legend of Zang Hai – which took top spot on the “Top 10 most-watched dramas in Taiwan Today” list for seven consecutive days – got the attention of the mainland’s Taiwan Affairs Office.
“People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait share the same language with common cultural roots, so it is natural they will have emotional resonance with the excellent film and TV works on both sides,” said TAO spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian, who extended invitations to Taiwanese residents to experience the cinematic locations in person on the mainland.
For decades, Taiwanese artists held sway on the mainland but in recent years as political tensions have risen, they have struggled to reach mainland audiences. At the same time, the mainland’s pop culture market has enjoyed growing acclaim, with Beijing billing it as an engine of soft power to win hearts and minds in Taiwan.
Beijing also sees the central government playing a key role in driving C-dramas to diversify China’s economy beyond domestic markets while expanding the country’s global footing and soft power.
In a 2022 report, the NRTA said the expansion of Chinese TV dramas overseas had evolved through three stages: a self-driven rise in quality from 2012 to 2014; scaling distribution channels that included targeting through the Belt and Road Initiative from 2014 to 2017; and an industrial chain stage from 2018 to 2022, marked by online platforms like Tencent Video and iQIYI expanding overseas with localised operations.
While state support plays a role, experts have emphasised that market forces, video streaming platforms and audience dynamics have been pivotal in the popularity shift.
Cao Xuenan, an assistant professor of cultural studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said C-dramas were a “great soft power” because they were not imposed on people.
“It was definitely far from the state-led or promoted kind of cultural product. It was totally people finding a diversity of content suitable for their taste, just picking up on it themselves,” she said.

Legend of Zang Hai is one example: after watching how the show incorporated elements of feng shui, ancient construction, burial, astrology, puppetry and shadow plays, viewers in Thailand and Vietnam discussed the exploration of geomancy and Chinese traditional culture on forums.
One blogger pointed to the “Eastern beauty” of the show and began digging up articles about the “artistic and cultural accuracy and value” published by museums and cultural institutions in China.
“These audience-driven dynamics – rather than state policy alone – are shaping a more authentic expansion of China’s soft power,” Chang said.
Zou said video streaming platforms such as Youku and iQIYI had been playing an “increasingly central role” in the production and distribution of Chinese TV series. These platforms have not only launched numerous hit C-dramas but have also expanded globally. Legend of Zang Hai, for instance, was co-produced by Youku.
This shift had had a “profound influence” on China’s TV drama industry, creating new opportunities for global circulation and for diversification into various niches and subgenres to grow audiences, he said.
Analysts, however, have cautioned against assuming a simple cause-and-effect relationship between viewership and positive national perception.
Cao warned that while Chinese dramas had boosted language visibility and cultural presence, they did not automatically foster positive perceptions of China, since the content of the shows was diverse and did not present a “unified” image of the country.
“It made the Chinese language more readily available. It also made the Chinese faces more visible online and in other media,” she said. “But whether it is linked to a positive perception of China [is] a whole different thing.”
Zou said that series such as Legend of Zang Hai were not intended to overtly alter perceptions about China or its politics. “They are first and foremost for entertainment,” he said. “But they may subtly cultivate favourable attitudes towards Chinese media and cultural products, or renew people’s perception of the type, range and quality of Chinese cultural products.”
According to Chang, international audiences mainly engage with C-dramas for entertainment “rather than as a lens into China’s political system or global stance”.
“As such, the cultural appeal of C-dramas may not directly shift political perceptions of China,” he said.
“However, by fostering cultural familiarity, C-dramas have the potential – over time – to challenge pre-existing geopolitical narratives and gradually influence deeper, more entrenched views of the country.”
Yeh said “cultural patriotism” was another weakness for C-dramas and films going global. For example, the heavily promoted production Ne Zha 2 (2025), China’s highest-grossing movie ever, was “bloated”.


In recent years, China’s economic rise and technological advances have fuelled national pride and a revival of traditional culture. The blend of old and new has led to productions like the Tang dynasty-inspired 30,000 Miles from Changan (2023) and the classic-novel-based video game Black Myth: Wukong.
Despite the success of some of the productions, observers have doubts whether productions like Ne Zha 2 have had the same viral impact in overseas markets as they did domestically, since they catered to local tastes through a nationalistic lens.
In Ne Zha 2, for instance, fans noted indirect references in the film to China’s geopolitical rival, the United States.
Observers said China’s drama productions would need to be more creative and explore genres beyond historical epics to appeal to a broader global audience and address challenges such as language barriers, geopolitical headwinds, and competition from South Korean, Japanese and Western TV dramas.
“With improved storytelling, more creative freedom, and strategic collaborations, C-dramas have the potential to grow as influential cultural ambassadors and strengthen China’s presence in global entertainment,” Chang said.


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As overseas fans binge on Chinese hit streaming shows, slick productions could boost country’s image on the global stage, experts say


As overseas fans binge on Chinese hit streaming shows, slick productions could boost country’s image on the global stage, experts say.


Palace intrigue conquers global screens: are C-dramas China’s new soft power?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}As overseas fans binge on Chinese hit streaming shows, slick productions could boost country’s image on the global stage, experts say

As overseas fans binge on Chinese hit streaming shows, slick productions could boost country’s image on the global stage, experts say